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Economics: A Very Short Introduction Partha Dasgupta 2007

Reviews '"I wish more people would read Dasgupta's book, and I wish more economists would write variations on its theme. It is a model specimen."' - www.economicprincipals.com 'The text is direct, rigorous and thought-provoking. It provides an intelligent, rigorous and readable introduction to economics.' - London Book Review.com

Description Compares the lives of two children in the Developed and Developing Worlds, and uses this as a key to uncover the processes that shape our lives and our futures. Shows how economics uncovers and explains these processes, and how it can form solutions and policies. Up-to-date and progressive, this short book is written by an internationally recognized authority in the field. Introduces key economic factors and concepts such as individual choices, national policies, efficiency, equity, development, sustainability, dynamic equilibrium, property rights, markets, and public goods. Ties in politics, anthropology, ecology, geography, sociology, and development studies. Economics has the capacity to offer us deep insights into some of the most formidable problems of life, and offer solutions to them too. Combining a global approach with examples from everyday life, Partha Dasgupta describes the lives of two children who live very different lives in different parts of the world: in the Mid-West USA and in Ethiopia. He compares the obstacles facing them, and the processes that shape their lives, their families, and their futures. He shows how economics uncovers these processes, finds explanations for them, and how it forms policies and solutions.

Along the way, Dasgupta provides an intelligent and accessible introduction to key economic factors and concepts such as individual choices, national policies, efficiency, equity, development, sustainability, dynamic equilibrium, property rights, markets, and public goods.

Partha Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics, Cambridge University

Contents:


 * Prologue
 * Becky's world
 * Desta's world
 * The economists agenda


 * 1) Macroeconomic history
 * GDP as a measuring rod
 * Proximate causes behind differences  between Becky's and Desta's worlds
 * Institutions
 * 1) Trust
 * Mutual affection
 * Pro-social disposition
 * Laws and norms
 * External enforcement
 * Mutual enforcement
 * Communities and markets
 * Property rights
 * Goods and services: classifications
 * Private goods, public goods, and externalities
 * Money
 * Culture
 * Socially influential behaviour
 * 1) Communities
 * 2) Tied engagements
 * 3) Networks
 * 4) Weak ties
 * 5) Strong ties
 * 6) Markets
 * Ideal markets
 * A single market
 * Interdependent markets
 * The efficiency of ideal markets
 * Market failure
 * Monopoly
 * Macroeconomic fluctuations
 * 1) Science and Technology as institutions
 * 2) Households and firms
 * Households
 * Gender inequalities
 * Property rights and fertility
 * Transaction needs of households
 * i) Insurance
 * ii) Borrowing, saving, and investing
 * Firms
 * Limited liability and joint stock companies
 * 1) Sustainable economic development
 * Conflicting viewpoints
 * 1) Social well-being and democratic government
 * 1) Social well-being and democratic government
 * 1) Social well-being and democratic government